Chapter 10 : Si-lu Shen, the God of Reward and Compensation

People take great delight in discussing the accuracy of my spiritual divinations and predictions.

An early example that comes to mind was the occasion when Wei Ch'ing P'ing,4he vice captain of my troop, Unit 5802, had wanted me to deduce, on the spot, the number of coins he held in his clenched fist.

"Fourteen," I replied.

The vice captain himself had no idea how many coins he held. But, after opening his fist and counting them, his eyes opened wide. There were exactly fourteen coins in his hand. Following this incident, Wei Ch'ing P'ing took refuge in Buddhism and started the practice of chanting sutras and the Buddha's epithet.

On another occasion, a person with a sharp tongue derided his family for believing my divinations. He approached me during a gathering, making outlandish, sarcastic remarks and accusations.

Stepping forward he asked me, "Do you know what I was doing last night?"

"Playing mah-jong," I replied.

A wave of surprise swept across his face. Though momentarily caught off guard by my answer, he quickly said, "All right, so I was playing mah-jong. But can you figure out how much I won or lost?"

This was a bigger challenge. The crowd turned their eyes upon me.

"Eight hundred eighty," I said.

The man with the sharp tongue began yelling, "Correct, correct, correct! This is unbelievably accurate. Can such ability really exist in the world?"

Everyone applauded. The man continued, "Initially, I had lost only eight hundred dollars. I was about to take the loss and leave when someone at the next table asked me to lend him eighty dollars. Because it was such a small amount, I decided to just give him the money. Well, he lost the eighty dollars too. So, I myself lost eight hundred, and this person lost eighty for me. Overall, it was exactly eight hundred eighty."

Still another time, a young man who adamantly refused to believe in divinations came to my residence under his family's coercion. Huddled in a corner of the room, he refused to come forward to see me.

In response to his family's appeals he yelled, "All divinations are just hoaxes. All 'psychics' are swindlers, quacks, and frauds."

Turning to him I calmly stated, "In this world, truth and untruth exist side by side. Many frauds do exist, but instead of automatically disbelieving everything, why not take a closer look to discern the frauds from the genuine practitioners?"

"I don't care to," he replied. "I just know you are a fraud."

"Well, what if I find out something about you!"

"I don't think so!" he said stubbornly.

"Your right thigh is scraped, and it was bleeding as a result of you falling off your scooter yesterday. Am I correct?"

Staring hard at me he said, "I have not told anyone about this, not even my family. No one knew except myself. How did you find out?"

He rolled up his trouser leg to show everyone. Indeed, there was a wound with clotted blood on his right thigh. He had put antibiotic ointment on the wound himself. Finally, he walked forward to where I was sitting and allowed me to conduct a divination for him. Everyone cheered.

In general, most of my divinations turn out correctly. But there have been times when my predictions were wrong. What happened in these cases? I will explain.

A high official who wanted to become the head of his department once approached me and asked, "Will I become the head of my department?" This official's last name was Deng, and he was competing for the position against three other candidates-Zhao, Chen, and Liang.

"You will," I replied.

Half a year later, when the appointment was announced, Chen, not Deng, was selected as the department head. Furious, Deng came to interrogate me. My prediction had affirmed he would become the department head, and I now appeared to be wrong. Was I really a fraud?

"How do you explain this?" he questioned.

I did not know what to say, and my face and ears turned red.

Deng asked again, "Did you not say I would get the position? Explain what happened!"

I was speechless. My only response was, "To tell you the truth, I myself had no idea who would be appointed to the position. I was just repeating what Si-lu Shen (the God of Reward and Compensation) was telling me."

"Si-lu Shen? Where is Si-lu Shen?"

"Si-lu Shen is invisible."

"This is preposterous," Deng remarked resentfully.

One can imagine the embarrassing situations I occasionally found myself in when people came to interrogate me for predictions that had gone wrong. I would look dejected and have nothing to say. At such moments, my only option was to call out for Divine help.

In this particular incident, a flash suddenly appeared before my eyes. It was Si-lu Shen, the deity of reward and compensation, and he began writing in the air the pictogram for sexual misconduct. Beneath the word, he also wrote the date of the act.

"You committed a sexual misconduct!" I said to Deng.

He denied the accusation.

"It occurred on day XX in the month of XX." Deng again replied, "No."

I was stupefied. The image of Si-lu Shen writing the pictogram for sexual misconduct was clear. The date of the incident had even been relayed. How could he deny it? I refused to believe him.

I pressed further, "Please think again carefully."

Deng thought hard and made some calculations to make sure he had the right date. Still he denied the charge.

At this point Si-lu Shen gave me more specific information. It turned out that Deng had been peeping at a woman bathing next door. When I heard this, I almost broke out laughing, but was afraid to.

I said to Deng, "It was not a sexual liaison. You were peeping at a woman next door taking a bath."

When Deng heard this, it was his turn to be stunned. Without saying a word, he lowered his head and left.

Based on what I learned, this was the situation. Several months prior to the appointing of the department head, a single woman had moved into the house next door to Deng's. The woman was beautiful and very poised, and Deng could not help but stare at her each time they ran across one another. A window in Deng's house directly faced the bathroom of the house next door.

On the date in question, while taking a bath, the woman had forgotten to close the window blinds. When Deng saw this, he immediately fetched his binoculars and stood at his window watching the entire bathing scene from beginning to end. While peeping at the woman from head to toe, he became very excited. His mind was overtaken by carnal desire, and he muttered to himself, "It would really make my day if I could sleep with her for just one night!"

Si-lu Shen explained, "Although Deng physically did not commit any sexual act with the neighboring woman, he should immediately have excused himself from the window when he noticed that she was taking a bath. Instead, he watched her from beginning to end. Not only were his eyes moved, but his mind as well. Once a mind of inappropriate sexual desire is aroused, even if not acted out, a sexual misconduct has occurred. This was the reasoning behind his delayed promotion. Because of his inappropriate actions, he will have to wait six years to become department head.

In another incident, a lieutenant general, Lu Gu, sought me for a consultation.

Lu Gu said to me, "Living Buddha Lian-sheng, I have heard that your spiritual divinations are very accurate. That is why I have come to see you today. When I was young, my parents had asked a Master Ye, an expert in the Iron Board Divination methods, to give me a life reading. According to his divination, at age eighteen, I would be the top student in the national university entrance examinations. I would then study at the military academy and obtain my Ph.D. at twenty-seven. Three years later, I would leave for the United States and obtain another doctoral degree there. At the age of fifty-three, I would be promoted to the rank of general."

Lu Gu continued, "Master Ye was an expert in the art of Iron Board Divination, and he charged premium prices for his work. He was very selective with his services and would not even work on a case if he thought the client would lead an insignificant life. One had to make appointments months in advance to see him.

"Master Ye's first prediction was very accurate. I indeed ranked at the top of my class in the national university entrance examinations. The predicted year in which I would receive my first doctoral degree was slightly off. I received my Ph.D. at the age of twenty-nine instead of twenty-seven. Three years later, I went to the United States and obtained another doctorate. That prediction came true as he had forecast. However, his final prediction, that I would become a general at the age of fifty-three, is quite off. I am now fifty-six years old and am still a lieutenant general. Several opportunities to be promoted to the rank of general have passed me by. My question is, Master Lu, 'When will I become a general?"

Using my own spiritual divination method to find an answer for Lü Gu, I first held the mudra for "emolument," then the mudra for the "current two-hour period," and finally the "invocation mudra." Then I mentally chanted this mantra:

Clouds and oceans roar when the mantra rises;

Pointing at the Empty Space in the Dharma Realm;

Movements are the keys, opening the lock;

In stillness, the sun cleaves the flood,

Revealing interactions between yin and yang;

The Immortal in charge of reward and compensation manifests;

Ji-ji-ru -tai-s hang-lao-jun-lu -ling.

After chanting the mantra three times, a drop of bright light manifested. As it gradually expanded, Si-lu Shen, the God of Reward and Compensation, appeared. I asked him about the life readings of Lu Gu. Si-lu Shen replied with an answer very close to that given by Master Ye.

I asked again, "Why was there a two years delay in the first doctoral degree?"

The God of Reward and Compensation replied, "He would have obtained the doctorate on time, but on one occasion, after drinking too much liquor, he went with several student friends to a brothel. After being teased, he paid for a prostitute and spent the night in the brothel to prove to his friends that he had the guts to do so. Because of this, his doctoral degree was delayed two years."

"Spending a night with a prostitute caused a delay of two years?" I asked.

Si-lu Shen replied with the following verses:

Do not underestimate the power of a prostitute,

leaning seductively against the door;

A noble man guards his body as if it were made of jade;

A flawed, fallen flower

Will stain pure jade;

The loss of money and harm brought to the body

Will affect one's life,

And infections will incur great disasters.

Si-lu Shen then added, "A delay of two years was a minor penalty. If he had caught a sexually transmitted disease, he might even have died."

Startled, I did not know what to say.

Then I asked Si-lu Shen again, "Lu Gu was supposed to be promoted to the rank of general at the age of fifty-three. Why, at the age of fifty-six, is he still a lieutenant general?"

Si-lu Shen wrote the two words "Mo Shu" in the air.

"What does Mo Shu mean?" I asked.

Si-lu Shen answered, "It is the name of a person."

"Does this person have something to do with Lü Gu?"

"Naturally," replied Si-lu Shen. "Lu Gu is a very gifted man in the arts of letters as well as the military. His liaison with a prostitute in his younger years had already cost him two years. That was a minor penalty. In his middle years, however, instead of mending his ways, he became fond of men. Mo Shu was a good-looking young man among his subordinates. The two of them had been in a relationship for eight years. Lü Gu should consider himself lucky to have risen to the official rank of lieutenant general. How can he even hope to attain the important post of a general? He is only interested in his own rank and salary, yet he does not realize that he has created a karmic retribution for himself."

"What will happen to Lü Gu in the future?"

"The retribution will befall his son."

"What will happen to his son?"

"Lü Gu will lose his heir, and his son will die."

I was greatly shocked to hear this.

I decided to first discuss with Lü Gu the reason for his two years delay in obtaining his doctorate degree.

Lü Gu admitted, "That did happen. We were a group of young men out for a night of fun. I would never have imagined that the incident could push back my degree by two years."

Next, I brought up the reason as to why he had not been promoted to the rank of general. I wrote the name "Mo Shu" on a piece of paper and handed it to him. After he saw the name, he lowered his head silently.

"Is it really true?" I asked.

"Yes, "Lü Gu nodded. He then stood up and spoke to me, "Living Buddha Lian-sheng, your spiritual divination is indeed the best. I have now finally understood that, although one's fate is predestined, it still undergoes changes. All these changes ultimately are caused by our own mind."

"Very well said," I responded. "I hope you take this truly to heart, and I hope you will be spared the retribution!"

As Lu Gu left, I handed him a sheet of paper with the following warning:

Because sexual relations between man and woman are deemed right and proper,

Throwing the rules into chaos

Causes one to incur hidden stains and shame;

Reputation and money will be lost,

And in severe cases,

The loss of lives will result;

Please turn your head to look at your son,

Retribution does call without fail.

A short time later, Lü Gu's son died in a car accident, and his only heir was taken away from him! Si-Lu Shen's prediction was indeed terribly accurate.

Another incident related to Si-lu Shen involves Yuan Mao, the boss of a metal factory, who came to consult me many years ago.

Si-lu Shen had given the prediction that after fifteen years, "Yuan Mao would become a super rich man."

However, about thirteen years later, Yuan Mao's factory closed and, because he had so many outstanding loans, he had to flee his home country and move to the United States.

Yuan Mao had a very hard time in the United States. He tried setting up a stall in the flea market but made very little money. He also tried working as a construction worker. Although he had been a factory owner before, he now had to climb up and work on roofs. Because he was not very good at it, he was fired from his job. He finally found work in a restaurant, but barely made enough money to survive.

Later, when he learned that I had relocated to the United States, he looked up my address and took the Greyhound bus to find me.

When I saw him the morning he arrived, I was quite shocked. The Yuan Mao I once knew had shiny black hair and dressed in well-pressed suits. He had a personal secretary and a chauffeur who drove him around in a black luxury sedan. But the Yuan Mao standing before me now in a tattered jacket was unkempt and had a full head of grayish hair. His face was covered with wrinkles and he appeared travel-worn and weary. He truly looked like someone down on his luck.

He had not yet had his breakfast, and I invited him into the house and offered him some bread and a glass of hot milk.

Yuan Mao asked me, "Si-lu Shen said I would become a great and wealthy businessman in fifteen years. What has happened to me?"

"How many years have now passed?" I asked him.

Yuan Mao did some calculations and said, "It is exactly fifteen years now. Si-lu Shen was wrong, and your spiritual divination was also wrong!"

I did not know how to respond to him.

"Why has this prediction turned out so wrong?" Yuan Mao's face showed the pains of frustration and the helplessness of someone who felt he had been wronged.

He continued, "The year my factory was at the height of its success, I invited you to give my factory a feng-shui reading. I carried out your recommendations and corrected the fengshui problems. I also asked you to give me a life reading, and you predicted that I would reach my peak and become extremely rich in fifteen years. Now, it is exactly fifteen years later, and I am at the end of my rope! What do you have to say to this?"

"I really don't know what happened...," I replied, sweating.

Yuan Mao said, "Now I really don't know what to do with my life! You tell me. What should I do?"

"What if I gave you another reading now?"

"Reading? What kind of reading is this going to be?" he asked, getting a bit hot tempered.

I closed my eyes. Surprisingly, I saw Si-lu Shen with two children, one on each side of him.

"Whose children are these?" I asked.

"They are the spirits of the unborn children of Yuan Mao," Si-lu Shen replied.

Oh! I now understood. In the past ten years or so, Yuan Mao had committed the transgression of aborting two unborn fetuses.

"Yuan Mao, you committed killings. Your partner has aborted two fetuses."

Yuan Mao retorted, "But many people have abortions. It can't be that severe of a transgression, can it?"

Si-lu Shen again appeared. This time he shook his head and pointed his finger to the empty space above us. A convent suddenly came into view and a young, beautiful nun walked out holding hands with the same children I saw earlier, one child on each side.

Shocked by what I saw, I again immediately understood.

I turned to Yuan Mao, "What you did was really terrible. You defiled a nun! Were the two babies borne by a nun?"

This time, it was Yuan Mao's turn to start sweating.

"But the nun had also liked me!"

I sighed and said, "Temples not only house Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Dharma Protectors, but also monks and nuns pursuing spiritual cultivation and pure awareness. The transgression of seducing a monk or nun is much more severe. You behaved improperly by having sex with a nun, impregnating her twice, and causing her to have two abortions. What a heavy transgression that is! That is why you are down and out on your luck today."

"Was that the cause?"

"Of course," I replied.

"What should I do now?"

"Make a vow now to uphold the precepts. There is also a need for you to write a ceremonial prayer of intent. List your name, the date and time of your birth, and make a vow to Heaven and Earth that you will never commit such transgressions again. Sign the prayer and burn it. From now on, repent of all your mistakes in the past and be very careful to stay away from all thoughts and actions of sexual misconduct. Vow to uproot all sins and walk the rightful path. In addition, you must harbor good thoughts from now on. Talk to others or distribute pamphlets advising them to avoid sexual misconduct. The sutra says that by avoiding sexual misconduct, one can gain the five blessings and avoid falling into the three lower paths of rebirth. You must make vigorous efforts to redeem yourself."

Yuan Mao nodded.

There is the following poem, passed down to us, regarding sexual misconduct with spiritual cultivators:

They have immersed themselves in practices to liberate themselves from the world;

How can one romance and flirt with spiritual cultivators?

Breaking precepts and ruining names,

Disrupting the quietness of a Buddhist sanctuary;

Nothing escapes the eyes of gods;

Although the coupling takes place stealthily,

Punishment from the government and the spirit world will be heavy;

What a trap to sink one into a lower realm!

I saw Yuan Mao out and gave him two thousand U.S. dollars, wishing him luck in starting a new life.

I have a few thoughts regarding the incident of Yuan Mao. I have seen the movie, The Thorn Birds, which is about the love and conflict between a Catholic priest and a woman who desires the priest. This movie brings to mind the incidents of female and male devotees who seduce monks and nuns, monks who seduce nuns, and vice versa.

Such incidents do exist. In fact news of this nature often garners quite a bit of media coverage as reporters immediately try to exploit the stories. Whatever the actual situation, people seem to love reading scandals relating to spiritual cultivators. The printing of such stories boosts sales. The media, propagating such scandals, has the power to confuse right and wrong; and often times, not many people actually stop to consider the moral truths to the story.

In terms of karma, a spiritual cultivator committing sexual misconduct can incur terrifying results. This is because one has knowledge about the teachings of the Buddhadharma, yet continues to commit the transgression.

According to the Buddhist sutras, a person committing sexual misconduct will suffer retribution such as betrayals from spouses and daughters, dying without sons, falling into the three lower realms (animals, hungry ghosts, or hells) after death, or waiting an inexorable time to regain the body of a human.

People who commit sexual misconduct will lose their status, suffer a loss of reputation, and lose their money. Licentious people will have many illnesses, age faster, and will not live long. They will be reprimanded by society and incur great enmities. Also, what suffers ultimately is the reputation of the religion to which they belong! When a woman seduces a monk, a man seduces a nun, or a monk and nun together break the precepts, a great evil is committed.

This is why, among the five important Buddhist rules observed by monks and nuns, the rule prohibiting sexual misconduct is of the utmost importance. Sages who have transcended the world, virtuous people living in the world, and noble people who have understood the path to realization have long realized the origin of lascivious desires and their dire consequences. Some people advocate breaking off the desire, others advocate temperance and abstinence, while Tantrayana advocates channeling the desire and transforming it into a practice.

It is within this scope and based on good intentions that I place my efforts into spreading this message. I simply hope that everyone can break this barrier of illusion of the flesh and transform a mundane pleasure into true purity and ultimate bliss.

In Tantrayana practices:

Body is the generation of wind and light in the subtle energy channels;

Speech is the mutual circulation of drops of chi;

And Mind is the attainment of great bliss and pure awareness.

I, of course, am aware that before attaining realization, monks and nuns are ordinary beings and thus will err. But, they must still try their best to observe the precepts. As outlined in the Divine rules, misfortunes befall those who are licentious. One should often repent for one's transgressions, oneself.

One should publicize and disseminate good books and sutras that will benefit the minds of men. This will help people of the world understand the futility of pursuing physical and material pleasures, and the suffering that inevitably follows unbridled lasciviousness and sexual misconduct. Only in this way will morals and customs gradually become virtuous, as the hearts of men develop kindness and honesty, and society grows towards harmony and peace.

I offer, here, the following verse:

The body is the foundation of all tasks;

Activities that harm the body are many and varied,

Yet none is more cruel and fierce than lascivious desires;

A noble man regards his body as a piece of jade,

Abandoning wicked thoughts and deeds,

Preserving it with sincerity.

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